Betty French passes away

Betth French Jarmusch

Betty French Jarmusch, who in the 1940 may have been the first daily newspaper movie and theater critic while in her 20’s, passed away November 15 in Shaker Heights at the age of 96.

She wrote about Marlon Brando in “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Broadway, covered a Duke Ellington concert and the Ohio wedding of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on Malabar Farm. She began at the BJ as religion editor before her encounters with Wallace Beery, Ginger Rogers, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa and, in an elevator, shared a ride with Trigger, Roy Rogers’ famous horse.

She is survived by her daughter, Ann Marmusch, once art and architecture critic at the San Diego Union-Tribune; and filmmaker sons Jim and Tom. She married Robert Jarmusch, B.F. Goodrich personnel director and Interior Steel Equipment president in Cleveland. They lived in Cuyahoga Falls, then Silver Lake, and finally Shaker Heights.

Betty's obituary:

Betty Jarmusch, beloved mother, grandmother and lifelong writer, died peacefully in Shaker Heights on November 15. She was 96 and the widow of Robert T. Jarmusch, whom she met in an Akron candy store. She was born Ruth Elizabeth French, in Andover, Ohio in 1921, and had previously lived in Silver Lake.

 

Betty French blazed a trail in American journalism when she became the Akron Beacon Journal’s first woman movie and theater editor during the 1940s. She reviewed Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy in “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Broadway, covered Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s wedding at Malabar Farm, and reviewed a Duke Ellington concert in Akron.

 

A prolific writer, Betty published features, essays and short fiction in the New York Times, Status, Good Housekeeping, Antiques World, Bride’s and Woman’s World. A University of Akron alumna, she later wrote a dramatic screenplay set in Akron involving World War II era spies and their Zeppelin.

 

Betty leaves three loving children, Ann Elizabeth Jarmusch, of Sedona, Ariz., Jim Jarmusch and Tom Jarmusch, both of New York City; her friendand caregiver, Raquel Robinson; and sister-in-law, Geann French, of Wadsworth. She was predeceased by her beloved twin brother, Robert James French.

Arrangements were by Brown-Forward. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing in Betty’s name to the Cleveland Animal Protective League, 1729 Wiley Ave., Cleveland 44113.